A Family Matter
by Shoosherdy
Summary: Just as life was handing them happiness on a silver platter, old demons long forgotten resurface to disturb the peace.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Angela, we adore thee, in this chapter and all those following.

Rating: K+? T? For now.

As/N: That's right, guys. The official start to our years-in-the-making, never-ending story. Y'all can blame me for stalling it this long. Shoosh had this piece up and ready without breaking a sweat while I'm putting off the "first chapter" you guys will see next update like it's a relative asking for money. (She's asking me to add a "You're welcome" here.) I won't be dictating who's written what after this - we'll just assume all credit goes to Shoosh because if she isn't busy writing chapters, she's kicking my colossally slow butt in gear. Sometimes successfully. A huge thanks for checking it out from both of us.

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A Family Matter  
The Prologue

The sight that greeted her was one for sore eyes…

… Now if only the rest of her wasn't so sore.

The brunette's mouth was practically watering as she watched her girlfriend – wearing nothing but a sports bra and tight training shorts – doing sit-ups. While hanging upside down from a bar. The sheen of sweat that left the blonde's body glistening caused Lucy's eyes to dilate, her mind racing with images of other activities the two of them could engage in to cause Amy to sweat just as much.

_If not more…_

Lucy's smirk – albeit upside down – caught Amy's attention, causing her to stop her work out and simply hang there, smiling warmly at her girlfriend while she continued to catch her breath. The blond couldn't help her warm smile turning into a flirty smirk when she realized her girlfriend was staring, slightly slack-jawed, at her heaving chest.

"See something you like, Luce?"

"Two things, actually…"

The brunette's smirk softened when she heard Amy laugh at her, admittedly, horny remark. Moving closer to her still-hanging-by-her-legs girlfriend, Lucy inwardly cringed when she realized Amy was a small distance higher than her own level on the ground, and that she'd have to reach up to get to her. She mentally coached herself to keep her face its happy-to-see-my-girlfriend mask as to not show Amy that anything was wrong as she stood on tiptoes and kissed the blond.

"So, Spiderman, what's with this?"

Amy, for her part, went back to her work out as she spoke.

"I woke up with too much energy, I was starting to vibrate before I came down here. Figured it was time to actually use our basement-turned-gym. Can't always burn energy in the bedroom."

Lucy's smirk was back in action and matched the one on Amy's face as she finished her sentence.

"You have to admit though, _that_work out is _a lot_more fun than this."

"I don't know… I happen to think the way _my_work out gets _you_all worked up is fun. Have you even looked me in the face at all since you got here?"

This earned Amy eye contact. And boy was she sorry for her remarks then. The fire she saw in Lucy's eyes was enough to sear the memory of this moment into her mind, causing her body to heat up in an entirely different, yet familiar way.

To distract from the overwhelming feelings of want that were currently settling themselves into the room, the blond suddenly had a thought.

"Hey, if this makes me Spiderman, does it also make you MJ?"

This, acting like a bucket of cold water on Lucy's libido, caused the brunette to shiver. If she was being honest with herself, Lucy was secretly pleased. Amy's eyes – which were getting darker by the minute – were almost enough for her to forget about the overpowering aching of her body.

Almost.

"Blergh. Me, as a redhead? Are you kidding?"

Finishing up her set with a flourish, Amy proceeded to maneuver herself down from the bar, landing on her feet with the grace of a gymnast ballerina – too caught up in her landing to notice Lucy swallowing thickly.

_Grace of a gymnast ballerina? What the hell kind of person is that? Nice job with the thinking thing, Lucy… Note to self: make Amy wear those shorts more often… _

As a result of her train of thought, Lucy missed whatever it was Amy said until she had a face full of sweaty towel.

Sputtering, Lucy pulled the towel down, about to complain before getting side-tracked by Amy's sweaty physique, to which Amy just rolled her eyes.

"So is that a yes to sparring? I've still got a lot more energy to burn."

Lucy paled. That was _definitely_not a yes to sparring. Her brain was threatening to shut down her body in order to recover, and it must have shown on her face because next thing she knew, Amy was stepping into her personal space with a concerned frown.

"Hey, you alright? You don't look so hot."

Trying to act tough, the brunette scoffed, busying herself with the boxing bag hanging in one corner of the room.

"Geez, babe, how'd I get so lucky getting a sweet talker like you? I've just had a hard day at the docks, so no to sparring. I can hold the bag for you though if you wanna go a round with the punching bag."

Amy, still narrowing her eyes in assessment of Lucy's condition, nodded slowly. She expertly put on her boxing gloves – smiling faintly at the custom-made, blue plaid sparring gear Lucy had gotten her as a gag gift.

Lucy's eyes were shut tight long before the first blow shook her to her bones. The pain that was screaming throughout her bruised body seemed to be radiating out of her very atoms.

_She sure wasn't kidding about the energy… it's okay, not like I __like__to breathe anyway…_

For the next fifteen minutes, Lucy took it like a soldier. But when minute fifteen looked like it was threatening to become minute sixteen and more, the brunette raised her hand and stepped back from the bag, wheezing as she struggled to make her lungs work.

Amy, frowning with concern, dropped onto her knees next to Lucy as the latter sat leaned against a wall, trying to calm herself enough to breathe normally again.

"Now will you tell me what's wrong?"

"I told you. It's just been a long and hard day at the docks, and my body's kind of now realizing it. I'll be fine, once the burning sensation wears off."

Amy, for her part, just continued to frown.

"You should have told me how bad it was, I would have taken it more easily on you-"

Judging by the look that flashed in Lucy's eyes, that wasn't the right thing for Amy to say.

"It's not _that _bad for you to think I can't handle myself in a fight!"

"You're out of breath just by keeping the punching bag _I_was working on steady."

Lucy – stubborn, stubborn Lucy – just waved it away, determined not to let weakness show.

"It's just sore muscles, nothing a hot shower can't loosen up."

Noting that Lucy seemed to be breathing normally and there seemed to be no signs of her being in pain, Amy stood up to help the brunette to her feet.

"Yeah, okay. A hot shower sounds wonderful. If you'll wait for me, we can go together after I'm done with my push-ups."

Lucy swallowed. Her mind was screaming for her to get out of this situation, while her privates begged her to stay and watch Amy do push-ups, then let the blond join her in the shower.

It was when Amy – standing pressed against Lucy's entire body – softly, _seductively_, pressed her lips to that one sweet spot on Lucy's neck that Lucy knew.

This was how she was going to die.

Teasing lips that wordlessly promised more –_ so much more _– at a time when she could not comply was exactly what was going to kill the notorious super villain Lucy Diamond.

The struggle was real for Lucy as Amy lost herself in the sensation of touching the brunette. The former found herself incapable of breath again for an all new reason.

With a frustrated groan, Lucy extracted herself from Amy's embrace as soon as she felt a warm hand slipping under her shirt, knowing that if she didn't move now, she'd get caught.

Kissing the blonde's temple to lessen the annoyance her movement created, Lucy smiled sheepishly.

"You know I would love nothing more than to save water with you while you get all the hard to get places _clean, _but I'm afraid I'm going to decline the offer, babe, I'm sorry."

If anything, that just annoyed Amy more.

"I'm sorry! I'm just really sore, so I want to hurry up with the shower and maybe take a nap."

That seemed to work as Amy nodded, kissing Lucy again – this time on the cheek as to not start anything.

It was an hour later when Amy jogged her way back up from the basement to their bedroom, noting the lack of Lucy wear littered around their bedroom as she expected. Listening closer, the blond frowned when she didn't hear the water running. Was Lucy done already? If so, where was she?

Checking the bathroom door, Amy's frown deepened. The door was locked. It was an unspoken agreement, one of domestic life's comforts, that permitted Amy to step into the bathroom and join her girlfriend in the shower whenever she wanted to. Jiggling the door knob a little, Amy was thoroughly displeased with being denied of her domestic comfort and was losing her patience with the barrier between them.

"Lucy? Is everything alright in there?"

Lucy stood, dry as the Sahara and rooted to her spot in front of the mirror, her body pale with a cold sweat covering her shaking form. The pain of all of her recently accumulated injuries increasing by the minute, Lucy was left standing stiff as a board, in a bra and her jeans after being unable to remove more than her shirt without feeling like she wanted to die.

Hands gripping the edges of the sink with a white-knuckled grip, and her eyes locked on the black and blue map of bruises covering her torso, Lucy called out with as steady a voice as she could manage, "Yeah, all good. Just need some time to myself, Ames. I'll be out soon."

Whether or not Amy believed her wasn't really a concern of Lucy's at that moment.

No, she was more concerned with keeping her injuries a secret from Amy.

And more importantly, what was she going to do about her _problem_at the docks?


	2. Chapter 1A

A/N: Thanks to any and all following this story on ATD, FF, or AO3. We both appreciate it immensely and will try to make sure the story moves along at a good pace. Though if we get distracted, comments or feedback are always very focusing ;)

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A Family Matter  
Chapter One

Sometimes, this house was just too eerily quiet. Routine creaks hadn't settled into the foundation yet and the constant ebb and flow of the Mediterranean against their beach of a back yard had long ago become background noise. Maybe this house was just too big for the two of them even with a new puppy that only seemed to eat, nip off the buttons from their shirts, and sleep.

Their apartment had been better. Relatively. Bickering downstairs neighbors had kept Amy immersed in Spanish, a thousand shrieks and laughs floated in from the street, occasional sirens wailed… It had all slowly driven Lucy insane when she was actually home. Yet she hadn't asked once if they should use the money her thieving life had left tucked away to upgrade to the villa she had her eye on. It turned into some rite of passage for Lucy that the villa be bought with their own legitimate money.

It took just under a year of late nights and a ridiculous amount of dedication to her new sailboat renting business for Lucy to buy the spacious two-story house, Amy insisting on covering her year of tuition herself. Any arguments about helping out on either end were shut down on the few evenings Lucy was home. But settling into the villa a few months back, things were finally able to slow down for them. The renting business was well-established and Lucy was home more, celebrated with the puppy Amy brought home one day. Lucy and the aptly named Buttons were thick as thieves from their first glance. The villa was their playground with panting, barking, and laughs echoing everywhere.

Yet not a sound could be heard now.

Amy sighed in the slightest, relieved yet perturbed by the slim noise. It dissipated all too quickly, a press of the remote replacing it with the last few minutes of _Two Weeks Notice_. The briefest smirk flitted across her lips at the first sighting of Sandra Bullock. Childish, maybe, but she was a sucker for Sandy's girl-next-door roles. The things _While You Were Sleeping_ could do to her…

Eyes roaming the screen, she admittedly agreed Sandy's apartment was on the small side. Perfect for two. Cozy, warm, comfortable. Amy rolled to her back on the couch as Sandy ordered Chinese – a nice tradition between her and Luce too – and the credits began. _At least now there's musi-_

An interrupting screech from the TV jolted Amy back upright from well-worn habit. The screen switched from multi-colored bars to a news reporter jogging in the darkness, something blazing brilliantly in the background and fire trucks littering the scene. Even before the reporter said he was investigating a fiery wreckage, Amy was gasping for breath, having recognized the marina and Lucy's newest baby going up in flames.

It took a single word – bomb – for Amy to grab nothing but her keys and sprint to the car. Normally the short drive or lingering walk to the docks for lunch with her girl was a leisurely one: waves and the beach to her right between occasional houses, an open square that usually held the morning market to her left. But now, it could have been snowing out and she wouldn't have noticed. Lucy replaced the scenery. She saw Lucy instead of the road. Nothing but Lucy.

She stomped on the brake, ditching the car on the surrounding beach after noticing the emergency vehicles crowding both entrances.

Instead, she ran. Ran like bullets were biting at her bare heels. Ran, for the first time in a year, like she used to.

She momentarily stumbled in the sand, urging herself to continue on even faster as she took in the scene. The fire from the sailboat was licking at the sky, no amount of water dousing it even with dozens of streams fighting it back. _Damn it, Lucy… _

_No. You can't yet… Focus._

She turned inward, working on steadying her ragged breath and calming her throbbing heartbeat as her head swiveled this way and that, all for a glimpse of the former thief. _Damn it… Damn it. Damn it! _"LUCY!"

Long legs that didn't even feel like hers anymore sent her racing into the marina and past the few lines of bystanders, allowing her to break the cops' perimeter before an entire thicket of lingering policemen wised up and caught her by the waist. Their grips loosened as she writhed amongst their shouts, but where progress was made, new hands pushed her back.

"Let me go! That's Lucy's—"

"Get back, Ma'am!"

"No! Let me—" _Lucy…_ "Let me go! She needs help!"

Hands, arms, and entire bodies just kept pushing her back, her shouts turning to pleads.

"No one was aboard the boat! We can't let you closer, so just _calm down_!"

The option of breath finally returned even as a cold rush chilled her veins that her girlfriend still wasn't in sight. She settled, eyes darting everywhere for Lucy and coming up with a sea of dark-haired women in the crowd, but not _her _brunette. "Where—" She grabbed onto the nearest police officer as he backed up, everyone having released her. "Have you seen Lucy Reynolds? She owns this marina. Please…"

"I haven't seen her, now please, Ma'am…"

She weakly released him, eyes flickering to any of the others, reading the same answer in each officer's eyes. She blinked, turning to the person beside her filming the wreckage. "Can I use your phone? Please?"

The teenaged boy seemed annoyed, but offered it all the same. Only Lucy didn't pick up after countless rings. Nor did she the second time. Useless wetness was blinked back when Scud didn't answer his either. Hearing the third person's hello actually surprised her. "Janet! Janet, please tell me you're watching the news."

"Of course! Scud called me and said he's fine. He tried calling you too, but apparently your phone just kept ringing. Are you down there now?"

"Yeah, m'here. Janet, does anyone know what happened?"

"Well, the news report was just saying stuff about a bomb. They don't know who or why, really. Or when. Or much of anything, but that seems to be all news reports lately."

"To Lucy," she all but whimpered, "What happened to Lucy…"

"Oh. Sorry, Scud hasn't heard from her. He's keeping an eye on the hospitals. Said he already checked the marina or something, though the police weren't letting him through anywhere. Maybe it'd just be best to be near your phone if she calls? I'll have Scud call if anything comes up, okay?"

Amy nodded. "Thanks…" Her voice sounded small even to her as the call clicked to an end, the teenager snatching the phone back just in time to record the last of the vicious flames before the sea swallowed the boat entirely.

Her feet should move, she knew, but her eyes just kept searching the slowly dissipating crowd, looking for the familiar flash of black that, for once, never came.


	3. Chapter 1B

A/N: In the middle of finals, but I'll just leave this here… Thanks for reading.

A Family Matter  
Chapter One (Part 2/2)

Clutching tight to the home phone in her right hand – her left, her cell – Amy began her zillionth lap from the living room to the kitchen and back, the front door centered between each pass. Buttons trotted at her side with each back and forth, thinking it was some sort of new game, though even the energetic puppy could sense something was wrong and whined a little on their next pass by the door. Only this time, the distinct sound of a key turning in the lock broke her out of the pattern, sending her running to the door and both phones absently to the floor. Amy landed in Lucy's arms, a broken sob just barely masking a surprised groan.

Normally when she returned home from work, Lucy would find Amy holed up in her studio working on some assignment or another, but always with a warm welcome home when she meandered that way. Hysterics… that was new. Not that she couldn't guess why…

Regardless, worry laced her tone. "Amy?"

Amy replaced words of explanation with a tightening hold, turning her head into her lover's neck and letting her sobs come out more freely.

Lucy pulled her in closer despite the intense pain radiating from anywhere the blonde touched, offering a protective embrace through the confusion. "Hey, it's okay. Cry it out if you need to."

For a moment, Amy did. But pulling herself back and wiping at her face a little, she finally explained, "Th-there was news… a bomb- one of the ships at the harbor. It-t was one of yo-" A hiccup cracked the word, bringing Lucy's hand up to touch the blonde's cheek. "-one of yours…"

Lingering wetness clung to Amy's cheeks, swiped off by the pad of Lucy's thumb as she looked her over. "I'm right here. The news was hyping that up a bit. No one-" She paused slightly, her muscles twinging, "no one was hurt, honey."

Amy didn't seem to hear as she choked out, "A-and you said this morning that you w-ere supposed to be on one today." She fought in a breath, choking it back out again. "I kept calling you, but you wouldn't answer. I even went down to the marina and saw your boat burning. You weren't anywhere! And now you're finally home…" She seemed to run out of words and nestled into Lucy's neck, her arms tight around her girlfriend as she slowly controlled her crying.

Something twisted in Lucy's gut, worry perhaps, pain most certainly, but she pushed it from her mind, concentrating on the here and now. On Amy. She stroked softly along her back, trying to ease the lingering sniffles. When that didn't work, she tried words.

Yet none she could share came to mind. Her mouth closed again as she worried her bottom lip. _A small lie isn't the end of the world… _

She started out soft. "I was the one to dial 911, Ames. They needed me to stay on the line and I eventually handed it off to Mario to go help. I promise I'm alright. I'm here. One piece even," she tried to joke.

Amy's head emerged from her neck, her tears having cleared, but an undeniable redness still clinging around her eyes. Eyes that were suddenly looking her over in worry. With spy-like precision. _Shit._ Nothing she could really do at this point but smile reassuringly and wait.

"Your clothes…" Amy frowned deeply, perturbed she was just now noticing this. "They're almost damp."

"Uh…" _Double shit._ "Yeah. Lots of spray from the fire truck hoses."

_Smooth, Diamond. Nothing like being bodily thrown against the dock and into the water from an explosion to test your lying abilities._

Worried eyes slowed to a stop atop cuts on her forearm, Amy's fingers softly holding the surrounding skin. "This was from when Buttons got a good scratch in, right?"

"Uh-huh." It didn't sound confident – because she wasn't – so she nodded too.

Amy's eyes lingered on hers, unreadable.

_C'mon. Stay strong._

Her tone was questioning, inner indignation adding a touch of anger as her fingers feathered upward with none of the feelings they normally aroused, stopping along a smaller cut. "That was this one. Why are you lying, Luce?"

Lucy sighed heavily, the act alone making her hiss out the rest of the breath in pain, Amy's worry skyrocketing. "If you say you just had an exhausting day, I swear to God, Lucy Diamond…"

"So it's been a little more than that…"

"A little?" Her look was becoming downright murderous. "You're hurt, Lucy. God knows how badly… What's worse is you've been hiding it while I- …clung all over you. Geez, are you okay?" She reached for Lucy's shirt, disheveling it enough to catch a glimpse of purpled skin before Lucy weakly pulled it back down, biting back the pathetic noises that went with the action.

"Amy, please…"

Amy's mouth had gone dry, but she managed to intone, "Lucy…"

This time, when she reached for Lucy's shirt, she was allowed to raise it up, gasping at just how thoroughly bruised she was – angry purples, blues, greens, and yellows marring what seemed to be every few inches of her skin.

In an instant, the blonde's face was stone cold, almost mortified before she finally lifted her eyes back up to Lucy's, the realizations apparent.

_The light jacket for the past few days wasn't to ward off an oncoming cold._

_She didn't want to stay up reading, she wanted to go to bed after me._

Her eyes slipped to the floor as thoughts just kept assaulting her.

_She locked the bathroom door to keep me from seeing the bruises she couldn't – wouldn't – explain._

_No wonder we haven't been—_

"Hey. Look at me." Lucy took the hem of her shirt from Amy's hands, dropping it back into place again. "I'm okay. In need of a first aid kit, but okay."

That seemed to get Amy's attention, refocusing her thoughts. The two slowly, painfully made it up to their master bathroom, Amy coming up with supplies and pausing before reaching for her shirt again. It was carefully removed amid gasps and sharp howls, allowing Amy to start cleaning some of the fresh wounds. "This is more than what could have happened today – some of the bruising is almost healed - so whatever this is has been going on for a while. Talk to me, Lucy."

When nothing was said, her eyes sharpened in the slightest, Lucy hissing at the slightly harsher dab against a cut. "Something's going on and you're keeping it from me like I'm some innocent you have to protect."

"No, I know- I know you aren't. It's just… We're finally settled in here. A new life, a new start, a new us. …and I didn't want to bring up old worries, especially when it could just be harmless pranks from someone around here."

"Harmless pranks, Lucy, really?" The tone made Lucy flinch, then wince at the pain even that caused.

"That theory's kind of shot after tonight, I know, but that doesn't mean I have a clue who it is either. It's not like half, if not more, of the underground world doesn't want me dead for my own brand of treason, not to mention the plentiful enemies my family and I had before that."

"So tell me about the _harmless pranks_ that have you coming home bruised." Her very face got quiet, meek. "…How long? How long have I not noticed you're coming home hurt this badly?"

The response was pretty quiet too. "No more than a week. It was just small things at first. Slippery bows as if someone waxed them. Steering shot to all hell in one of the yachts. Tampered electrical wiring that I regret trying to personally fix. Anything to cause me pain or stress, it seemed. But bomb is a bit past a "we don't want your business in this neighborhood" warning.

"The bruises, Lucy," Amy reminded.

"…And then some slightly bigger stuff started happening. Stuff that was probably my fault from all the stress. I don't really see a need to reevaluate my stupid actions…" Lucy carefully regarded the heavy sigh she got in response, knowing Amy was worried, concerned, and even angry all at once. A hard trio to navigate with her. She took a moment before asking, "Do we have strong pain meds somewhere?"

"The hospital does." Regardless, Amy was already searching through the medicine cabinet.

"You know how I feel about hospitals…"

And she did. Amy knew she wouldn't go even if she got shot, God forbid.

"Have you at least called Scud?"

Lucy downed a few pills, nodding. "From the driveway. Just long enough to stop his circling of the hospitals. It's like he doesn't know me either."

The look she got wasn't very impressed. Neither was the sigh. "What's next then?"

"Next is curling up in bed and sleeping like the dead."

At least she got a slim smile at that. "That's not exactly what I meant… but you're right. We can figure things out in the morning." Amy carefully released the hooks of Lucy's bra, lifting it off and down her arms before just as carefully removing her jeans, all traces of the humor dropping when the trail of bruises continued down her thighs and lower. Each uncovered inch revealed another shade of discoloration. As gentle as she could, Amy pressed a kiss above each of Lucy's knees before finishing and fitting loose boxers in place. She lingered when pulling out one of the baggy t-shirts Lucy'd taken to wearing lately, but the brunette's own shake of the head made her put it back. She helped Lucy settle in before getting ready for bed herself.

Lights were turned off and blankets readjusted around them as Amy gently settled in on her side, trying not to jostle the bed too much. They both remained quiet, neither quite knowing what to say. A careful press of lips to Lucy's temple and a slow shift back to her side conveyed the mix of relief and worry flowing through Amy while Lucy's own thoughts remained distant and unknown, not even Amy's brief touch calming her nerves that something huge was coming their way.


End file.
